Srevelle
Srevelle was a long-lasting empire in Kussia that was active from 1055 BT to 517 DR. It bordered the southernmost Wami states, Alkina, the Mercenaries' Pass, and southerly Odatho Plains nations like Hembore and Sab Elai. Srevelle also bordered the Perto-Kussian Sea, the World's-Edge Sea, and the Gulf of Gentor. Early history (1055–859) Srevelle was founded by a union between Chiranjivi Ghatur of Dhisirput and Swapnil Ravash of Sapanre in 1055 BT, in order to defend against aggressions from the northern state of Ozo. The two were initially co-sultans of the newly established empire, but Swapnil died in battle in 1053, after which Chiranjivi assumed full control of the nation. Instead of a co-monarchical system, Chiranjivi established the government with a sultan as overall head of the empire and a kilraj governing each of the constituent nations. The early years of Srevelle's existence were tumultuous, with continuous pressure from Ozo and unrest in the kilrajate of Sapanre— Swapnil's descendants largely resented being demoted to kilraja rather than being full sultans. These threats oscillated in intensity, as increased threat from Ozo tended to unify the Srevellic populations, but after internal strife broke up Ozo in the end of the tenth century then tensions continued to mount. Ultimately, the tension culminated in a Srevellic civil war that broke out in the 860s. This civil war concluded in 859, when Sultan Vasanta I was killed and the Sapanric Prabodh Ashripal was appointed in his place. Expansion (859–598) Already having an army mobilized, Prabodh— now Sultan Prabodh I— began waging foreign campaigns against the southern Ozo successor states. Throughout the rest of the ninth century, Srevelle managed to push its border north and repel the Ozites. In the early eighth century, Sultan Vasanta II even managed to expand southward to the Seventh Ridge of the Hamshar Mountains. Later Ashripal monarchs began feuding with the western states of Rabhur and Pashnim, but throughout the eighth century neither side saw significant progress. However, when the sultan of Rabhur slew the childless Sanjit of Srevelle in 727, and in the ensuing succession crisis Rabhur was able to capture a substantial portion of southern Srevelle. Vasanta Ghatur ultimately restored his dynasty to the throne in 725, but rather than continue the strife he opted to focus on strengthening trade and infrastructure within the existing Srevellic state. In the ensuing years, Srevelle focused on stability and pacifying the residual Dhisirput/Sapanre tension; however, Sultan Sumantra I would return Srevelle to a militarily expansionistic mindset. Although Sumantra I died after a relatively short reign, his son Sumantra II followed in his footsteps and made territorial advances against both the Rabhuri and Pashnii in the west; however, later Ghatur sultans were forced to table those campaigns due to territorial incursions from the north. The seventh-century wars against Sab Nzasa were mostly inconclusive; however, they did lead to the death of Swapnil, the heir apparent, in 603, causing the accession of the sickly and infertile Jagjit VII when Jagjit VI died. Ascendancy (598–463) After the death of Sanjit Ashripal, a more intricate line of succession had been developed; thus, when Jagjit VII died at the age of thirty-eight, the throne passed to a cousin of his named Madhava Savensham. Madhava was old and also died quickly, but he was succeeded by his son Subhash, who was married to a Pashni princess, Lilavati Agur. Subhash and Lilavati, owing to the latter's Pashni heritage, were able to foment division within Pashnim and take over the whole of the nation by Subhash's death in 560. By this point, Srevelle mostly surrounded Rabhur, and so the Rabhuri sultans began attacking Srevelle in a bid to avoid subsumption. The Rabhuri gambit ultimately failed— they were able to make only limited gains against Srevelle, and the Srevellic retaliation gradually crushed Rabhur throughout the sixth century. By the reign of Chiranjivi VII (500–476 BT), Rabhur had been reduced to a rump state in the Hamshar Mountains, and Srevelle stretched across Kussia. In 474 BT, Kishor Jehenad— the kilraj of Pashnim— staged a coup and claimed the throne for himself. Although Kishor was able to streamline the increasingly complex Srevellic bureaucracy, he was largely seen as an outsider in the largely Dhisirpak government, and so in 463 he was deposed and the Savenshams were restored. Internal conflict (463–375) Sumantra IV, who acceded in 463, was murdered shortly afterward by pro-Jehenad agents; he was succeeded by the four-year-old Prabodh V, putting the nation under the regency of his mother, Shanthi Thurakin. Between the weak governance of the regency and the many nobles recently disenfranchised under Kishor Jehenad, many nobles became increasingly autonomous and dismissive of the sultanate. Thus, when Prabodh died in 414, the nobles were able to exert their influence over the succession. Rather than give the throne to Prabodh's son Sumantra, they instead passed it to Vasanta Panguran, an older aristocrat who they saw as easily manipulable. Although Vasanta was a detached ruler who allowed the nobles to continue on their decentralized path, his son, Sultan Vasanta V, was unhappy with the deterioration of authority. Inspired by Kishor Jehenad, Vasanta V overhauled the Srevellic government even more intensely; the kilrajates of Dhisirput, Sapanre, and Pashnim were dissolved and replaced with eight smaller and less powerful divisions. This created significant unrest, and so Srevelle saw varying amounts of civil war throughout the 390s and 380s; ultimately, what it took to bring the people together again was an external threat. Agwela, one of the more successful states that had risen in the wake of Ozo, invaded Srevelle in 383 BT. Although in the early years of war, some displeased nobles continued fighting against the sultanate, the significant territorial gain made by the Agwelites forced the Srevellic populace to work together and drive their foes back. That said, the war-ravaged Srevelle was unable to overcome the Agwelites entirely, and so by the war's conclusion in 375 Agwela captured a substantial section of land. Recovery period (375–176) After the Agwela-Srevelle War, there was widespread unhappiness among the people; the public still remembered the prosperity that had dominated the Savensham period, and seeing the inability to measure up to that success was a heavy blow. After Sultan Chiranjivi VIII was killed in battle against Rabhuri raiders, the nobility ultimately decided to reinstate a Savensham as sultan. Harinder Savensham (r. 349–321) was a moderately capable leader, who managed to repel the Rabhuri attacks from the south and help build some infrastructure; however, in later years he became an alcoholic who neglected his kingdom, and so upon his death the nobles decided to again appoint a new leader of their choice. The deliberations took the better part of the year, but the council ultimately chose Subhash Gowansara (the kilraj of Teppe) as the next sultan. A brilliant economist who had brought significant trade to his kilrajate, Subhash was able to likewise reinvigorate Srevelle as a whole. Many increasingly dilapidated buildings were renovated, while all-new monuments were also built throughout the nation; Subhash also pursued a program of memorializing powerful figures from Srevellic history, helping restore national pride. Although Subhash only reigned for seventeen years, his successors followed much the same path; many of them were even beneficiaries of Subhash's expansion of education. However, later Gowansara monarchs struggled with the stresses of meeting the level of their ancestors. Sumantra VII and Chiranjivi IX both focused on warring with Agwela to bring glory to Srevelle, and Sultan Akash (r. 194–176) refused to wed and abdicated at the age of thirty-five. Southern strife (176 BT–6 DR) When abdicating, Akash appointed as his successor another Teppic noble: Sumantra Oassa (r. 176–142). This time period was mostly peaceful, although a rise of cooperation between Rabhur and Gentor saw privateers begin to ravage Srevelle's west coast. As the Srevellic navy was limited and largely on the east, there was little success in its anti-piracy measures, and so the economy suffered during this period. Eventually, Sultan Harinder II made an arrangement with Cornica to wage war against the Pertusian region of Gentor; this war, which begun in 120 BT, took the pressure off of Srevelle and allowed it to amass some ships. By the accession of Vasanta VII in 97, Srevelle was able to wage a coordinated campaign against the pirates, and staged a land invasion of Rabhur as well. The Hamshar Mountains gradually fell to Srevellic influence, and by Vasanta's death in 62 Srevelle reached the Gentori border at the Second Ridge. However, the Hamshar Mountains were difficult to navigate and their inhabitants full of resentment for Srevelle, and consequently Srevelle had serious difficulty holding them. In one stratagem, Sultan Harinder III (r. 48–19 BT) attempted to pit different Rabhuri factions against each other; although this caused the unified movement for Rabhuri independence to crumble, it also served to scatter and decentralize the uprisings, causing further logistical problems. Meanwhile, the rise of Sab Elai in the first century BT caused further problems for Srevelle, as a joint Agwelite-Yantalai force began ravaging northern Srevelle near the end of Harinder III's reign. His successor, Prabodh VII (r. 19 BT–6 DR), was forced to abandon the Hamshars entirely and focus on repelling attacks in the north; although he managed to hold off the Yantalai forces, the economic cost was still significant. Northern strife (6–95) Later Oassa monarchs largely focused on internal politics and war recovery; however, their foreign policy became increasingly negligent, and so the sultans of the first century DR paid little attention to the consolidation of Unmi in the Wami jungle or the Yantalai dominance over Agwela. When the militaristic Nagast Rabhen II acceded in Alkina in 59 DR, he began making diplomatic overtures to Unmi and Sab Elai, and so in 63 the Tripartite War on Srevelle was declared. The war went poorly for Srevelle, and there was significant land lost to each of the three northern polities by the time the war drew to its close in 69. Operating under a reduced empire, Sultan Subhash IV (r. 66–78) was forced to reduce the number of kilrajates to three: Teppe, Ecca, and Dhinta. By this point, opinion was souring on both the Oassa family and on Teppic rule in general, and so an ultimatum was made to Bhaskara II (r. 78–95) in 86 stating that he would have to appoint a non-Teppic successor or else face civil war. Cowed, Bhaskara II selected the Dhintak kilraj, Sumantra Lamravan, who sought to usher in a largely peaceful foreign policy to recover from the military problems that Srevelle had faced. Second recovery (95–390) Although the Lamravan rulers were largely effective, the family was plagued by poor health, with some Lamravan sultans not even surviving to age fifty. Through skillful diplomacy, though, Srevellic leaders managed to talk their northern neighbors out of capitalizing on the sultanate's relative weakness. Under the rule of Prabodh IX (r. 187–214), though, Srevelle was nevertheless invaded by Sab Elai and faced land loss along its eastern coast. Prabodh, concluding that Srevelle needed a strong military leader, appointed Brijesha Burghana as his successor. Thus, Brijesha became sultan in 214 DR and shortly began a series of land-reclaiming campaigns against the Yantalai. After struggling in some early wars, Brijesha supported a faction of Hemborite rebels in western Sab Elai and was able to work alongside them to beat back the Yantalai forces. A lifelong bachelor, Brijesha Burghana instead appointed a Dhintak noble named Chandrakant Pushram to succeed him. The Pushram kings were among the most effective rulers of late Srevelle, defending the state's borders and helping the economy to flourish; however, they became controversial after Sultan Harinder V (r. 356–369) publicly blamed Teppic misrule for Srevelle's problems and declared the Dhintaks to be the "supreme race" of Srevelle. Although his son and successor, Harinder VI (r. 369–390), tried to mitigate his father's inflammatory claims, the public opinion on the Pushram family was still damaged, and so after he died the throne was usurped by Vasanta Sepassur. Final years (390–517) Very cognizant of the delicate ethnic situation in Srevelle, Vasanta took an inactive governmental role in order to avoid reopening wounds in the Teppic community; however, his successors were less concerned, and so Sultan Sumantra XIII (r. 428–455) returned to the "Dhintak supreme race" rhetoric. This eventually caused riots and uprisings in the kilrajate of Teppe, and so Sumantra's son Chandrakant was forced to annul his marriage and wed the Teppic rajana Jyotsana Savarnim to restore peace. This was another source of controversy, as when Chandrakant III died in 472, Jyotsana was still alive and continued to rule on her own. This caused anger among the Dhintaks, many of whom felt cheated, and increased resentment among the Eccanaic populace, who argued that Dhinta/Teppe power struggles had left them irrelevant to the nation. This ultimately led to the Sepassur Civil War (486–492), in which Jyotsana and her son Subhash struggled to maintain the throne against the claim of Subhash's half-brother Bhaskara. Even after the war drew to a close, there was still anger on all sides, and so when Subhash died in 506, the Eccanaic Vishal Rigurith was installed as a potential peacekeeper. Vishal was an ineffective ruler, though; he faced growing secession movements throughout the nation and was unable to pacify them. Ultimately, imprisoned by a multiethnic guerrilla force, Vishal was forced to sign the Junathur Act which formally divided Srevelle into three states: Ecca, Teppe, and Dhinta. Category:Countries Category:Kussian Countries Category:Defunct Countries